Currently I represent the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the European Institutions in Brussels. I read history, economics, law, and international relations at the universities of Fribourg (Switzerland) and Cambridge (England). In 1993, I joined the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), where I worked in several foreign policy areas, including bilateral relations with the Nordic states, Germany’s membership of the Council of the Baltic Sea States and Protocol. After having been posted to the German Embassies in Sarajevo and London, I was Private Secretary to the Minister of State in the Foreign Office.In 2006, I was seconded to the European Commission, first co-ordinating foreign policy in DG RELEX and then as Policy Co-ordinator in the Secretariat General of the Commission. I have been Director of the Hanse-Office and Head of the Department for European Affairs in Hamburg’s Senate Chancellery since August 2009.